Miner&#39;s washing-pan.



No. 799,059. PATENTED SEPT. 12, 190-5. J. JOHANSEN.

MINERS WASHING PAN.

APPLICATION FILED APR. so. 1904.

WITNESSES; INVENTOR ATTORNEY-I UNITED STATES @grnmi ()FFIOE.

MINERS WASHING-PAN.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 12, 1:105.

Application filed April 30,1904. Serial No. 205,689.

1'1) 0/! ll'ftomf'it nt/ly concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEEJOHANSEN, aciti- Zen of Dutch (Juiana, and aresidentof Paramaribo, Suriname, Dutch Guiana, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Miners lVashing-Pans, of which the followingis a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming a part thereof, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts.

This invention relates to miners washingpans, such as are used forseparating precious metals from sand, gravel, and similar substances inwhich such precious metals are found, and especially to that class ofpans generally known among miners as Mexican bateas.

Heretofore it was found that in the process of washing a mass ofmaterial to separate the gold from it, no matter how careful theoperative was in the manipulation of the pan and of the materials, inspite of all he could do, some of the gold would escape with the sand orgravel or like substance from which the gold was being Washed, and so belost. Although the batea as it is in common use was constructed tominimize this loss, it has been found in practice to be very far fromeffective in preventing such loss.

The object of my present invention is to prevent the above-nan'ied lossof precious metal in the use of the washing-pans.

The nature of the invention will be fully understood from the followinggeneral description and the annexed drawings and will be subsequentlypointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which are hereby made a partof thisspeciticatiomFigure 1 is a top view of a batea with my inventionattached. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same, taken on the line a uof Fig. 1.

A designates the batea, which has rim a and conical sides 1/ convergingto an apex a. This vessel may be made of sheet-iron or of any otheravailable material.

a" designates a conical recess which is formed in the bottom of thevessel around the apex In this recess is placed the conical copper diskB, so that its edges will be flush with the inner surface of the bateaabove the recess 0 In this position it may be fastened by rivets 1) orin any other convenient and available way. This disk B and the rivets 6should be made of copper as nearly pure as possible, and especially suchspecimens should be selected as contain no iron. The rivets shouldexpose as'small heads as possible on the inner surface of the disk andshould be dressed off so as to be flush with the inner surface of thedisk B.

All the various parts are to be constructed and arranged substantiallyas illustrated in the drawings.

To use my invention, the inner surface of disk B is coated withquicksilver. This may he done in any common and well-known way, so thata suflicient amount of quicksilver adheres to the surface to act on thegold as hereinafter described. The batea is then charged with the masscontaining gold. \Vater is then added and the water and mass in thebatea manipulated in the common and well-known way. It will then befound that on account of its great specific gravity the gold will falldown on the sides and bottom of the batea. That portion of the goldwhich falls on the sides of the vessel will as the manipulationcontinues gradually creep down to the disk B until all the gold in themass has reached this disk. The gold which at first fell on the disk andthat which came down the inclined sides, all combining with thequicksilver on the surface of the disk, will form an amalgam which willadhere so firmly that none of it will fall off when the batea isemptied. So when the mass is thrown out all the gold will remain in theform of an amalgam. This amalgam may be removed in any common andwell-known way, and afterward the quicksilver may be distilled out of itin the common way to obtain the gold. As often as the surface of thedisk B is amalgamated the batea may be used again in the same way.

I do not strictly confine myself to the materials herein named, as zincand other metals are capable of beingamalgamated with a sufficientsurface of quicksilver to act upon gold as hereinbefore described, andother precious metals may be obtained in the same way; nor do I confinemyself strictly to the construction and arrangement hereinbefore setforth, as it is evident that I am entitled to such variations as arewithin the scope of my invention.

WVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

1. Awashing-pan for extracting precious metals from foreign substancesby manipulation, comprising a conical basin of sheet-iron, having aconical recess in the bottom thereof, a cup of copper, conforming to andfixed within said recess, and copper-headed rivets fastening said platetherein, the inner surfaces of the body of the basin, the said plate,and the heads of said rivets being closely fitted and smoothly polishedand on a common inclined plane, whereby the precious metal may bereadily caused to move down said surface, accumulate on the said plate,and be there amalgamated, substantially as shown and described.

2. A washing-pan for extracting precious metals from foreign substancesby manipulation, embodying an iron basin of conical contour and having aconical recess in the apex thereof, and a conical cup, composed of purecopper, in the said recess and rivets of pure copper fastening the sametherein, exposing a minimum of surface on the heads of said J OSEF JOHANSEN Witnesses:

A. W. S. TERBORG, S. DE VRIES, Jr.

